Europe Leads in Chip Market Growth

In July, the European region showed the strongest year-on-year growth of all regions tracked by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, according to the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA).

The year-on-year growth of 14.9% was ahead of the Asia-Pacific region at 11.2% and the Americas region, which grew by 8.1%.

The three-month average of global chip sales for July was $28.07 billion, up 9.9% over the equivalent figure in June 2013. The year-on-year growth was a slight dip from the 10.1% recorded the previous month.

Sequentially, the three-month sales average was up 2.4% from $27.40 billion in June 2014, a figure that had been moved down from $27.57 billion. No reason was given for the reduced figure.

Three-month average chip sales in June and July 2014.(Source: ESIA/WSTS)

The Americas region and Japan both saw year-on-year growth that declined from the previous month, in Japan's case back to a lowly 2%. But the Asia-Pacific growth strengthened, while China's weakened.

Robust growth was observed across the main product categories in Europe, with discrete devices, optoelectronics, and MOS MPU performing particularly well.

Semiconductor devices designed to be used in specific applications saw increased demand in July, with sales of devices to be used in computer and automotive applications showing particularly strength.

In July, exchange rates continued to affect the European sales picture when comparing market growth in euros and in dollars. Measured in euros, the three-month average of semiconductor sales was €2.402 billion in July 2014, a 3.6% increase from June 2014 and a 10.2% increase from July 2013.

Monthly data is given by the ESIA as a three-month average, though the WSTS organization tracks actual monthly data. The ESIA and other regional semiconductor industry bodies opt to use averaged data because it evens out the actual data that typically show troughs at the beginning of a quarter and peaks at the end of a quarter.